Cyberbullying doesn’t end with the school year

Mozilla Hive Toronto teams up with teens to combat cyberbullying

(TORONTO, June 26, 2017) - With the school year coming to a close, it is a good reminder that cyberbullying among youth is a year-round concern. To combat it, Mozilla Hive Toronto partnered with YWCA Toronto and Youth Empowering Parents (YEP) to develop the Ca.pture project. Ca.pture is a youth-driven digital storytelling program for educators designed to prevent, navigate and intervene in electronic bullying. The end result includes a facilitation guide and workshop for educators designed by teens aged 13-17. Ca.pture is supported by a grant from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority's (CIRA) Community Investment Program.

Ca.pture was designed and implemented by the Ca.pture Youth Council made up of 12 youth between the ages of 13-17 in Toronto. The council held several initial workshops to discuss and better understand cyberbullying, self-care and safe spaces, and they also learned coding skills in order to capture their experiences online. The youth themselves led workshops with their peers during a March break camp and later shared what they learned with educators from their community. The facilitation guide is now available online .

"It was integral that youth voices were at the forefront for this project," says Simona Ramkisson, portfolio strategist, Hive Toronto. "We wanted to ensure that they were given the opportunity to not only design the project in partnership with Hive Toronto, YWCA Toronto and Youth Empowering Parents but also had the opportunity to lead conversations about the impacts of cyberbullying in their communities."

"At CIRA we believe that all Canadians should be able to safely enjoy the cultural, social and economic benefits of the Internet," says David Fowler, vice president of marketing and communications at CIRA. "In this regard, combatting cyberbullying is a key way we are helping build a better online Canada."

About Hive Toronto

As an established program of the Mozilla foundation, we at Hive Toronto (TO) advance the promise of the Internet for learning. A dynamic peer learning network for educators who want to innovate, Hive TO is comprised of 70+ after-school, cultural and digital media organizations dedicated to exploring, creating and sharing the digital literacies necessary for communities to shape their world. More broadly, Hive Toronto is a flagship program for Mozilla's Leadership Network activities across Canada. Current goals for Hive TO are to strengthen the network for learning and innovation, and to spread ideas, tools, and practices in line with Mozilla's strategic plan.

About CIRA's Community Investment Program

CIRA is building a better online Canada through the Community Investment Program by funding innovative projects led by charities, not-for-profits and academic institutions that are making the Internet better for all Canadians. CIRA is best known for our role managing the .CA domain on behalf of all Canadians. While this remains our primary mandate, as a member-based not-for-profit ourselves, we have a much broader goal to strengthen Canada's Internet. The Community Investment Program is one of our most valuable contributions toward this goal and funds projects in digital literacy, online services, research and infrastructure. Every .CA domain name registered or renewed contributes to this program. To date CIRA has supported 99 projects with over $4.2 million in contributions.

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